Writing Boot Camp

Sentence writing seems to be a struggle this year! So my kids had to attend writing boot camp. This was a day that was focused on sentences! Sentence structure, sentence writing, handwriting! 

I was the pencil sergeant! I made this shirt just for this occasion!! 

The kids all got their writing boot camp dog tags!

We focused on what a complete and incomplete sentence was! We also did a sorting activity as a class! 











We sang a song about complete sentences and practiced writing some proper sentences! 

The Case of the Missing Cookies

My good friends have created this amazing unit to engage our kids! The case of the missing copies is all based on Who Stole the Cookies? Of course, you have to read that book to them and do the interactive chart inserting all of their names into the poem!! They love this!

Anyway, my friends Holly Elbe and Deanna Jump creates this awesome unit and it is truly one of the most engaging units I have done!! 

Of course, I added to the environment to set the stage to engage and to add my own little touches here and there!

So here’s some back ground! The day before I had our school secretary bring down a special delivery. It was chocolate chip cookies. Then three people expressed an interest in our cookies. We went to specials and the cookies were stolen. The kids cane in the next day and then room was transformed Into a detective study and a crime scene. 

They listened to a video from inspector Gavin who explained their mission and then our day began!

First we had to learn about fingerprints and talk about fingerprints!  I used this book to teach them.

Then we had to follow the clues throughout the school to try to solve our case!

The kids had a blast!

M

We returned to our room and started to investigate the fingerprints! Then we combined our fingerprint knowledge and the clues and solved the case!

Close reading Detectives

As you have heard, engagement is key! We need to try to engage our kids as much as possible when we are teaching them the skills they will need in order to read and write! In order to learn anything!!! 

When I went to the Get Your Teach On National Conference in San Diego (post to come soon) I learned so many new ways to engage my kids! 

One way that stuck was by having them be detectives!!! And can I say my kids loved it!! Thank you Deanna Jump!!!! 

The first thing I did was create their official detective reading tool kits!!

Then we began our mission! We learned how to close read to find facts and important information! They had official detective hats and used their kits!!! They loved it!!! 

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

It is already that time of year when we are thankful for our students and they are thankful for us! This is the time of year when our kids are excited and school is fun!!! 

My favorite thanksgiving movie and book is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! I love reading this book to my kids and then having a Charlie Brown thanksgiving in our classroom! 

Thanks to Oriental Trading and Learn365, you can add so much to your Charlie Brown thanksgiving celebration!

Here is what I did!

There are some awesome foam stickers of Charlie Brown and his friends on thanksgiving! I used these stickers to decorate orange plates and cups! I also decorated their popcorn bowls and some ceiling paper fans!!

I decorated the tables with pumpkins and brown tablecloths from Oriental Trading. I also made Charlie Brown characters and stood them up on the table using a pool noodle cut in half and sliced! I also placed leaf centerpieces on the tables as well!

I loved the cardboard decorations that Oriental Trading had! I used them to create the photo booth as well as hang on my clothesline as a display! 

A table by my door was decorated with a Charlie Brown centerpiece pack! So cute! 

Of course, we had to have pilgrim hats! These are from oriental Trading and they are amazing!! 

So that was the decorating! Now for the celebration! I made serving containers for the food with yellow plastic containers and black vinyl cut to look like Charlie Brown’s zig zag on his shirt!!!

The feast! Toast, jelly beans, pretzel sticks, popcorn and sprite! Just like Charlie Brown had!!

As you can see, I had some happy pilgrims!

Happy thanksgiving from our Classroom to yours!!!!!

These are my own opinions and I was not compensated for these opinions! I was given the materials and products by Oriental Trading to review!